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Comment by screye | Hacker News Reader

I don't agree with the bill, but I empathize with the motivation.

Infamously in the US, the IRS knows all. In India, the IRS runs blind. Here, tax evasion is the norm with only 2.2% of the population paying income tax.

> expanded scope of powers given to tax officials during search and seizure

For context, income tax raids are common in India. Officials tear down walls and ceilings to find hidden cash, jewels and other undeclared assets. Forcing their way into your phones is a digital equivalent. From a legal perspective, I don't see why digital spaces are anymore private than one's own house.

Yes, it limits freedoms. But, no more than than was the norm in a pre-internet India.

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> Infamously in the US, the IRS knows all. In India, the IRS runs blind. Here, tax evasion is the norm with only 2.2% of the population paying income tax.

That's not true.

Every year you get emails to file IT returns, and they have all records of all foreign flights I took, forex transactions I made on my card etc. Everything is linked to your PAN and Aaadhaar. To be clear this is fine with me.

> For context, income tax raids are common in India. Officials tear down walls and ceilings to find hidden cash, jewels and other undeclared assets. Forcing their way into your phones is a digital equivalent. From a legal perspective, I don't see why digital spaces are anymore private than one's own house.

Fine. However this is an overreach since tax evasion is not as a big problem as it was a decade ago due to digitization.

Tax to GDP is still low at around 11%, but that's because much of the population isn't required to pay tax(no tax till 12k$ which is too generous, they should instead decrease PIT threshold and reduce consumption taxes).

They tried to decrease PIT threshold and got heavily criticised. The 12k$ is recent innovation to tackle that criticism.

hmm, this Economist article from earlier this month shows just how bad things are in India: https://archive.is/bttaV

The last thing india needs is more bureaucracy and regulations and restrictions on personal freedoms (not to mention a free press which they've plummeted since the current PM's party took control).

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